Thieves stole statue of Britain’s youngest world champion.
Few nowadays will be familiar with Teddy Baldock, even if you happen to be quite the boxing aficionado. Indeed, even a supremely educated fan of the pugilistic arts would be the owner of some pretty deep-cut knowledge to be aware of who he is.
Sadly, this is the case with many fighters of previous eras. For all their skill and ability, they are unfortunately obscure to those of the modern day.
However, Teddy Baldock now finds his name in the news today. The reason for this is not exactly positive, but it does provide an opportunity to resurrect his legend once again.
Baldock was born in 1907 and turned professional in 1921, still only 13 years of age. He would go 41-0-1 before losing his first fight, a disqualification on a low blow.
Baldock would continue to fight on, and he had built a record of 54-1-2 by the time he challenged America’s Archie Bell for the world bantamweight title at the Royal Albert Hall.
Baldock ended up winning a 15-round decision, and as a result, he won the title 19 days shy of his 20th birthday. At 19 years old, he remains the youngest British world champion in boxing history.
Baldock would lose his claim to the title a few fights later, but picked up British and Commonwealth honours during the remainder of his career. He fought for the last time in 1931, retiring at 24 years of age.
At that age–an age that most fighters are just starting to establish themselves in the sport–Baldock had already amassed a final record of 73-5-3 with 37 KOs.
In his career, he drew with two-weight British champion Johnny Cuthbert, defeated former world flyweight champion Emile Pladner, and even tussled with all-time boxing legend Panama Al Brown.
Though Baldock lost the fight to Brown, he showed his resilience in making it to the 12th round before ultimately being stopped after being dropped four times. This was the only stoppage loss of Baldock’s career.
Following the end of Baldock’s career, he dealt with drinking and gambling issues, and he passed away at the age of 63 in 1971. However, if it wasn’t obvious by his nickname of “The Pride of Poplar”, his hometown adored him, and following a lengthy fundraising effort headed by Baldock’s grandson, a bronze statue of Baldock was erected in his memory in Langdon Park, Poplar, in 2014.
It was there that the statue remained until it was vandalised and stolen this past Sunday, leaving only its feet behind to rest atop the plinth it once stood on in its entirety.
Martin Sax, Teddy Baldock’s grandson, wrote a message on his personal social media, referring to the thieves as “scum” and paying tribute to Carl Payne, the late sculptor responsible for the statue’s creation.
A statement from London’s Met Police read, “Officers have obtained CCTV which shows four suspects at the scene, all dressed in black with their faces covered. The suspects wiggled the statue free from its stone plinth before placing it in a three-wheel cargo bike and covering it with a hi-vis jacket. No tools were seen to be used.”
A concern has been raised that the statue, worth £100,000, has been melted down by the thieves and sold for scrap.
Whatever the case may be, the only major memorial to a massively underrated, oft-forgotten fighter is now missing, and Teddy Baldock, a man who should be remembered alongside Britain’s greatest pugilists of all time, deserves so much better than that.
Last night scum stole the statue of my Grandfather Teddy Baldock Britain’s youngest ever World Boxing Champion. The statue was unveiled outside the Langdon Park DLR Station in Poplar, East London. Years of work and a stunning work of art by the sculptor, the late Carl Payne will… pic.twitter.com/WHiDOjVgnf
— Teddy Baldock (@Bantamchamp1927) February 2, 2026
Want to get the latest boxing news direct to your phone? Join our WhatsApp community by clicking here.
